Ripple's XRP cryptocurrency soaring to new heights this week. Coindesk's Director of Research Nolan Bauerle and Fortune Staff Writer Robert Hackett explain factors driving altcoins up, and Bitcoin down.
"Bitcoin has an enviable problem of being so popular, and such strong brand name that it became hard to access," says Bauerle. "I think when people saw that surge hit in December they said well I'll try something else." Altcoins like Ripple's XRP, Ethereum, and Tron posted significant gains in the first week of 2018.
"Retail investors are gobbling it up," says Hackett on some companies adding the word "Blockchain" to their name. " On Thursday Ripple's co-founder Chris Larsen became one of the wealthiest Americans on paper with his shares of the cryptocurrency growing to more than $59 billion. But Hackett says its important to note these shares are hard to transfer to direct wealth. Even if he were able to cash out all of his fortune, the markets would not handle it well says Hackett.
Multiple activist investors have taken stakes in Salesforce, according to reports from several outlets, spurring speculation that the tech firm could soon face additional pressure to increase margins and trim payrolls.
Andrew Collins, the CEO of private aviation firm Sentient Jet, joined Cheddar News anchor Hena Doba on a Walk & Talk discussing the future of business and leisure travel.
Stocks closed higher on Wall Street as investors grow more convinced the Federal Reserve will keep downshifting the size of its rate hikes and as several major companies prepare to report their latest results.
The number of businesses that see a 50 percent chance or higher of a recession in 2022 has fallen from around two-thirds of respondents in October to just over half this month, according to survey.
